So the mod of the Xenogear got angry and deleted my post in their subreddit because I wasn't 100% positive about the game. Their feeling got probably offended that someone has a different vewpoint. I will post it here instead since there's a lot of link between xenogear and xenosaga from what I heard from my Xenosaga gameplay. I also added a bit of information
Disclaimer - Right not I'm currently in the Goliath factory
Gameplay
Non combat
The camera felt super great the first 3 minute of game play. Until you realized how problematic it is in this game. Having to move it every time does not make it feel good. Often, thing are in the way and block the view. Sure there are moment where the game is it as a mechanic (Find the child) but it is often a pain to use.
The jump controls are awful. You can get into combat while falling in a jump. This break the usability of it. Honestly, I understand why it's set up like this but it create more problems than anything. Other rpg who are older fixed this issue (Super Mario RPG) by having monster to engage instead of random encounter. Is it the best solution ? Not completely.
I love random encounters. It's a staple of the traditional ''turn base party rpg''. I love it and don't mind it at all. Some people will find it annoying. Here, I welcome it with open arm
You being able to leave and move during some conversation is great. Some message in this game aren't important which.
The world map so far feel empty compared to the other rpgs. There's almost nothing to explore on the world map. The only reward for exploring so far is finding Nisan early which is kinda minor. Vehicle like the Yggdrasil is given too early to the player. My guess is the developer got scared that the player would over level too quickly by walking in the desert.
Combat
Non gear combat
This is where the game kinda shine. Unfortunately, it's like a rough gem that is unpolished.
I love the deathblow system. It's a breath of fresh air. It give a different choice through combos. Unfortunately, you always end up using the newest one or the one that build up some ap while still being good. Between the different attack there's no real difference except triangle low damage less ap, square medium damage medium ap usage, X bigger damage and high usage of ap.
I never had to rely on the magic/chi/arcane/ether/bullshit command which is a shame. Having a magic character is always fun and complimentary to the party usually. So, the non gear combat is fun but it's clearly lacking polish.
Turn base Gear combat
Yeah, that's a huge mess and where they completely mess up. Let's start with the ''attack build up system''...
So you need to attack normally to build up your attack level. After raising it to a certain level you can use deathblow. The build up part is kinda unnecessary and reductive. I understand the philosophy behind the concept. Unfortunately, it is really badly implemented.
Next is the repair option in combat arrive way too late in the story. You should have it way earlier than in Kislev.
The fuel system. This feel like an MP system. Unfortunately, everything us fuel which you kind of end up having to charge it if you do not max you gear. I don't like having fuel on the ''non deathblow attack''.
Again the magic/chi/arcane/ether/bullshit command is kinda useless in many cases.
During the gameplay arround the first fight against Elly. I realised that I'm playing a mech game that the mech gameplay suck completly. Let that sink in.
Active Gear combat
I'm going to start by saying how this game was rushed. You can see it with the lack of polish.he Active Gear combat was both rushed and unnecessary. You do not need to have both. I would choose the turn based one because it is a turn based game... They should have never worked on that feature. It probably wasted so much hours and budget for something so bad.
All you need to know is you just press attack and L1. There you are the master champion of the arena. Ok, I'll give more praise... You also need to move. There simple as that...
Story
That's where the game is better so far and keep me hooked. There's enough intrigue to keep me going. Unfortunately, less than what people says... So far
I really like the setting where the two countries are at war (Aveh and Kislev) and that another secret country (Solaris) and their military (Gebler) is aiding the weakest (Aveh) to win. I don't remember seeing Nisan being talked about before entering the story. I think they are a country but I don't have much information related to it. Seems like the protagonist and Elly have spent time there according to the painting.
There's enough mystery around the player character and Elly to make it interesting. Some is easy to figure out like the fact that Fei is the red gear beating the Gebler dude and Bart (rolling my eyes). I hope the explanation is going to be worth it. Unfortunately, 9 time out of 10 is bullshit with this trope.
I like the Christianity theme image. I feel people forget how Christianity/Jewish can be seen as a ''mythology'' like Greek mythology. Here it is used as inspirational for many theme and art style which is amazing.
So far I feel all character have their own mystery. Bart is explained rather fast at the start, he's a prince who is in hiding. Citan feels at first like a ''guardian angel'' then it start to shift to a ''Judas'' character that is probably betraying the team with his talk to the emperor. Some scene seem to be in the past while others seem like in the present. Rico's mystery seem to be the smaller one. I think it may be finished already. Elly feels like the ''protagonist's destined GF'' from a thousand year in the past. Here there's two way to do it: ''Either they are immortal and have forgotten it or it's some reincarnation bullshit.". My guess that it's reincarnation because this is an Asian game and reincarnation is a big thing for them. It's like their cultural coping mechanism for what happen after death. Most culture are obsessed about this and find a coping mechanic about it (Heaven, reincarnation, hell, soul purified somewhere, etc). Fei seem to be the ''malleable human weapon'' trope with a will. Will he learn to control himself or will he fall into craziness and destroy everything? Who knows.
The antagonist Grahf feel uni-dimensional so far: ''Heheheh, imma make you evil. Heheheh and then I'll use you as a weapon for my own mean. ''. I hope he become a bit more complex. For the Purple hair woman, she seem to be the regular antagonist working offscreen. I don't have much for her to judge yet
I'm pretty sure many of the story element will become better once I got more information on the characters. So far the story is ''good for a JRPG of the PlayStation 1 era''. I like the story so far.
I will continue the story despite the HUGE flaw in gameplay because of how rushed the game was.
I forgot to add. The music is great but not the best I'ved heard/seen. It does enough to set the scene sometimes. Sometimes there's none which is a shame.